Buried in the legal jargon of a document issued in March, the federal government asked people to tell it which laws it should "deviate from" while working on a U.S.-Mexico border wall.

The Department of Homeland Security posted a Request for Information online on March 2, asking professionals and interest groups to contribute their ideas on "long-term strategy" for building and maintaining a 2,000-mile wall along the border. Part of the request asks for people to contribute their ideas on "major deviations from federal law or regulation necessary to make this innovation possible."

Industry experts interpreted this language to mean that the government wanted advice on which laws it should waive – that is, which laws it should be exempt from following – in order to move forward quickly with President Donald Trump's border wall project.

"My immediate thought is they're looking for contractors to make the case against, say, the environmental laws or anything that would require an impact statement or assessment," said Tom Marcinko, a consultant at Aronson LLC with over 30 years of experience with government contracts.

"I would interpret that to mean – 'If there's any liberal do-goodie laws that limit business, you let us know," he said. "It's almost a political thing. 'Let us know what laws are hurting what you do.'"

Fourfederal contract experts interviewed for this story said they couldn't recall ever seeing this language before in other Requests for Information issued by the government.

Customs and Border Protection, which wrote the request, said it included the language to encourage people to submit innovative ideas and solutions for the wall.

"Our experience has been that innovation is often constrained – many times unintentionally – by well-meaning laws and regulations with unintended consequences," CBP spokesperson Carlos Diaz said in a statement. "Industry and other private entities sometimes do not offer innovative ideas since they believe we are unwilling to consider ideas that may require regulatory or statutory changes. We are very interested in any innovative ideas, and to the extent that someone thinks an innovation has been held up because of a law or regulation – we’d like to know that."

Diaz said examples of the kinds of laws and regulations they expected people to write in about included those related to competition, property rights and "cost-sharing relationships between the government and private industry," among others.

Three border wall prototypes are seen among the construction of the prototypes near the Otay Mesa Port of Entry outside of San Diego, Calif., as seen from behind the preexisting border fencing on the international border between the U.S. and Tijuana, Mexico, on October 16, 2017.(Photo: David Wallace/The Republic)

But experts questioned whether asking the public to lay out laws the government shouldn't follow was appropriate.

"It's not necessarily a good thing if you want to turn to industry to come to the government and make proposals that in essence direct the government to laws that need to be waived or amended," said Scott Amey, general counsel for the nonprofit Project on Government Oversight.

After releasing the document on March 2, CBP issued separate requests asking companies to submit proposals for border wall prototypes. Some bidders complained the prototype bidding process was unnecessarily rushed, and emails obtained by the USA TODAY Network in October chronicled their confusion and frustration.

Responses to the Request for Information on long-term solutions were due on March 31 and were supposed to be no longer than five pages. CBP received about 290 submissions and is keeping them confidential.

Experts pointed out that border security work is one of the few situations in which the federal government can choose to waive laws and regulations, so in that sense, the language in the request is not that surprising.

Under the REAL ID Act of 2005, Congress gave Homeland Security the authority to waive any and all laws that interfere with construction of physical barriers at the borders. Prior to the current border wall project, the last waivers were issued by the Bush administration in 2008, when 36 laws were waived to build 267 miles of border fence.

In August of this year, the Trump administration waived 37 laws and regulations to speed construction along a 15-mile segment of border in San Diego that includes the construction site of eight border wall prototypes. Then in September, officials fast-tracked a rebuild of fencing along two miles of border in Calexico, Calif., by waiving 28 federal laws and regulations.

Laws that were waived included the Clean Air Act, the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act, each of which calls for reviews of environmental impacts.

On Aug. 31, 2017, U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced winning construction contracts for President Trump's proposed wall between the United States and Mexico. U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Sen. John McCain says he is in favor of the proposed border wall but that it must be part of a larger plan to protect the border. He spoke with The Arizona Republic on Aug. 3, 2017. Thomas Hawthorne/azcentral.com

"It’s totally unprecedented, but it doesn’t surprise me because this is the only situation where they can waive those laws," said Scott Nicol, co-Chair Sierra Club Borderlands Team.

The Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife and Animal Legal Defense Fund sued the federal government in September, arguing it must follow environmental laws and regulations. That came days after another advocacy group, the Center for Biological Diversity, filed a similar suit over the waivers.

Environmentalists have argued that endangered species could disappear if a wall is built on the U.S.-Mexico border. Jaguars, for example, were nearly eliminated in the U.S. and are heading north again from Mexico in search of food and habitat. If their migration corridor is blocked by a wall, it could mean the end of the species, and in turn, it could endanger a whole ecosystem of plants and animals.

The wall could also damage border communities with erosion and flooding, according to Scientific American. Plus, the production of cement, which would likely be used in border wall construction, is a large contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.

California filed its own suit against the Trump administration to prevent work on the border wall until the federal government complies with environmental regulations. All of the lawsuits are ongoing.

The government asked people for their ideas on laws and regulations months before waivers were issued and lawsuits were filed.

"It almost seems lazy," Nicol said. "Honestly, they have lawyers that worked on these waivers before and lot of the same people are still in place."